The Presidential Debate: The Way They Behaved
The US Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on September 11, 2024, was qualitatively a bit better than the previous debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Donald Trump behaved and was less harsh and emotional. He was composed and calculated.
Kamala Harris appeared acting, overreacting, and playing more to the gallery. She seemed to be trying to provoke Donald Trump by constantly pointing to and looking towards him. He did not take the bait.
All else is their politics, their economics.
17 September 2024…
I represent the people. And that’s my choice.
I do not represent this state, this bloodsucking state, until it changes and is out of the Jaws of the Riyasati Ashrafiya.…
Why do we need a limited government in Pakistan?
Playing with or using or spending other people’s money engenders reckless behavior.
That’s one of the arguments that call for a limited government.
Not only for a limited government, but in principle no government intervention in the market, but very rarely, like the case of the CCP (Competition Commission) in Pakistan.
And most of all, no intervention in the money market. Because that impacts the whole financial system and thus the production system.
12 September, 2024…
Regarding what’s happening presently in the power corridors of Pakistan
Could there be any disaster greater than the debacle of 1971?
It’s a power struggle between those who follow nothing, no constitution, no laws, no values, no principles, no traditions, no norms, but only when they all or any thing benefit them.
And they all include in this no-holds-barred fight: politicians, military, judges, intellectuals, NGO-minds, media persons and a section of the people.
12 September, 2024…
Imran Khan Phenomenon: A Penultimate Explanation
[This piece I wrote like in a fit.]
Finally, I found what may be termed the penultimate explanation.
Since this IK (Imran Khan) phenomenon emerged on the political scene in Pakistan (end of 2011), I have been writing and speaking about it, trying to explain it.
Although, of course, there could never be a single explanation that is sufficient, especially in the case of a social phenomenon, in certain cases, there is an explanation that presents itself as revealing as the crux of a matter can be.
This explanation that I have found or realized now, and I term it the penultimate explanation, is such one that, without any fear of exaggerating, can be said to be the final explanation regarding the IK phenomenon.
Personally too, now I feel that finally I am able to untie the knot. I find myself satisfied with it now.
Actually, what used to baffle …
7 arguments against devolving government to the local level
The issue of devolution of powers to the level of local governments has become an intellectual, political, and economic fad in Pakistan.
When something becomes a fad, it means it is accepted without giving it any thought or putting forward any arguments. It acquires the status of something taken for granted. And it is presented as an established truth that no one is supposed to disagree with, and if a poor soul happens to do so, he is treated as a stranger to the cohort.
I have experienced and observed both sides of this coin, that is, the way the faddists treat it and the way the faddists treat the ones who try to differ with the fad.
To begin with, here are my arguments against the fad.
- The local government is neither the issue nor the solution. Under the circumstances, if devolution is pursued, it would push the Rot
Elite Capture – A Misleading Term
Elite capture is a euphemism and a misleading term that conceals the real extent of an impactful phenomenon, that is, a systematic capture of the state.…
A Critical Discourse on the Constitution of Pakistan
This discourse with Saeed Afridi took place in a WhatsApp group and has been compiled with his permission.
On May 7, 2024, out of desperation, I made a comment in a WhatsApp group, of which most of the prominent intellectuals are members. And thus, a discourse was set in motion.
The discourse is copied below, as it happened in the heat of the moment. That is, without any correction of spellings, etc., in order to keep the spirit of the discourse intact.
But it is not to be taken as an isolated dialogue between Saeed Afridi and me. We have been, now and then, conversing in the same WhatsApp group on this and other topics, and hence this discourse has a context as well.
The credit for this idea of compiling this discourse goes to Amer Zafar Durrani, who, in the middle of the discourse, intervened with these words: “This …
Theory of Riyasati Ashrafiya and Colonialism
Since I don’t see colonialism as an all-encompassing, overriding excuse and don’t hide myself behind that, my analysis focuses on the evolution of the institution of the state in the subcontinent and how that institution of the state was co-opted by the (Muslim) Ashrafiya and how the Ashrafiya took hold of a constitutional state after the partition.
My work on the theory of Riyasati Ashrafiya actually dwells on the theory of state, … and what type of state evolved in Pakistan?
In India, that didn’t happen. Because there was no taking hold of a constitutional state by a Hindu Ashrafiya. The constitutional state kept evolving there.
So far as the anti-colonialists’ love for natural evolution is concerned, Afghanistan is one of the most prominent examples.
Take Afghanistan as an ideal and romanticized country the anti-colonialists must love, where, ‘colonialism didn’t interfere with societal development; it actually didn’t erase an entire …
When to topple a government-the case of Bangladesh and Pakistan
The toppling of the Hasina Wajid government in Bangladesh as a consequence of massive and violent protests helped me arrive at a clear-cut view regarding what has been happening in Pakistan.
Earlier, my inclination was the same as the presently held firm view: When to try to topple a government? My answer is: Never!
In political philosophy, the issue of civil disobedience is of paramount importance.
That is, when it is fine to try to stand against a government.
And what circumstances justify the launch of a civil disobedience movement against a government?
Now I unequivocally hold this view: in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, a government must never be pushed to the wall by any means or in any manner.
By countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, I mean the countries where constitutional rule is not deeply entrenched.
The military establishment in such countries always waits in the wings to …
Indian and Pakistani Society: Social, Cultural, and Sexual Upheaval
Indian society is passing through the throes of social, cultural, and sexual upheaval.
Ours is immersed in the nectar of hypocrisy.
While the state in both countries is playing the role of a leg-puller with a degree of difference, it’s because in India, the size of the middle class is much larger than Pakistan’s.…
If one believes in violence, one can never play a positive role in the resolution of a conflict
If one doesn’t think in terms of values, first and foremost in terms of moral values, one would never be able to understand and resolve whatever conflicts one has to deal with.
Most probably, one would contribute towards sharpening the existing conflicts and thus would help give rise to new conflicts.
Violence is one such case in point.…
The Matrices of State Economics
The business of electricity
Who Owns Pakistan
There is no ownership of the state of Pakistan in Pakistan!
No political party owns it.
No constitutional institution owns it.
Neither the parliament nor the PAs.
To all of them, it’s a gold mine to extract as much gold as possible, and that’s what all the fighting, including the politics, is all about.…
کچھ لوگ چاہتے ہیں میں ان کی زبان بولوں
کچھ لوگ چاہتے ہیں میں ان کی زبان بولوں۔ کیوں بھئی میں آپ کی زبان کیوں بولوں۔ کیا میرے پاس اپنی زبان نہیں۔
کچھ لوگ چاہتے ہیں میں ان کے خیالات، ان کے نظریات پر صاد کروں۔ کیوں بھئی میں آپ کے خیالات اور نظریات پر صاد کیوں کروں۔ کیا میں خود اپنے خیالات و نظریات کا حامل نہیں۔
میرا ایک کلی نقطہٴ نظر ہے، جو وقت کے ساتھ ذہنی کاوش اور فکری تگ و دو کی بدولت وضع ہوا ہے۔
اور جن چیزوں کو میں نے چنا اس سبب سے کہ وہ ہمارے ملک پاکستان کے لوگوں کے لیے مسائل کی حیثیت سے اہم ہیں، میں نے ان پر تحقیق و تدقیق کی اور ان کے حل تلاش کرنے پر توجہ دی، میں اپنے انھی خیالات اور نظریات کا اظہار کروں گا۔
ہاں، آپ اپنے کسی خیال یا نظریے پر میری رائے چاہتے ہیں، تو میں اس کا اظہار …
Supreme Court as the Enemy of the Constitution
Time and time again, it has been demonstrated that the custodian of the constitution, that is, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, is enemy number 1 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Of all the violators of the constitution, it’s the judiciary that tops the list. Then comes the military. The last on the list are the politicians.
No doubt, the political game that the security establishment played for and/or by installing Imran Khan as the prime minister resulted in a crisis that has engulfed all the institutions and is playing havoc with the very existence of the state.
After the constitutional toppling of the Imran Khan government, it has been my considered and consistent view that it is only the establishment that can deal with the crises upfront, that is, it is only the establishment that can put the genie of the IK-PTI it created back into the bottle, and it …
The Pendulum of Politics
The Constitution is an orphan now
Certain politicians, judges, and generals are fit to be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.
But who will leash the cats?
How to leash the cats?
Nobody holds up the constitution now.
It’s an orphan constitution now.
Abandon it so that the brutal conflict finds a new, no holds barred shape.
Or have a Grand Dialogue, and a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” as an integral part of it.
But who will leash the cats?
How to leash the cats?…
Who is the main culprit? Politicians or the security establishment?
Here is circumstantial evidence that substantiates my long-held thesis that the main culprit is the politicians/political parties.
All those who used to consider the security establishment the main culprit have now come to side with Imran Khan. Because he, at the moment, is against the security establishment. They ignore the fact that it’s a ploy of his (a ploy of a power-seeker), and he wants the security establishment to install him again as the Prime Minister like they did him earlier in 2018.
These anti-security-establishmenters (Note one-ness of their purpose!) include who are known as Desi Liberals (local version of liberals), Leftists, Jiyalas (staunch followers of the PPP), and a bunch of religious rightists.
Whereas all those who considered politicians/political parties as the main culprit are still against both, that is, the security establishment and Imran Khan. Though such people were too few then, they are too few now. They …